Crystal Palace vs Everton prediction: ENGLAND: FA Cup betting tips on match 2024-01-03 20:00.
Crystal Palace finally got back on track in Premier League (PL) action this past weekend, defeating Brentford 3-1 to end an eight-game winless run (D3, L5). That was an ideal way to warm up for this FA Cup tie against Everton, who they beat 4-0 at Selhurst Park in the last H2H between these two held in this competition back in March 2022.
That helped them reach the semi-final of that year’s edition but was also their only FA Cup run which extended beyond the third round from the last four for the Eagles. That highlights the FA Cup struggles they’ve faced in recent years, while the 3-2 home defeat suffered at the hands of Everton nearly eight weeks ago adds a further psychological barrier for the hosts to overcome.
Everton, however, look a shadow of the high-flying outfit they were when these sides last met after their 3-0 loss against Wolves on Saturday condemned them to a fourth straight defeat. Two of those came against Tottenham and Manchester City, while there was also a narrow penalty shootout defeat to Fulham in the Carabao Cup quarter-final, too. Yet, it still handed manager Sean Dyche his first run of four successive competitive defeats since joining the club nearly a year ago.
While their H2H success here in November should give them some confidence, the Toffees’ recent struggles in London is what makes them the underdogs coming into the tie. Everton are winless in their last 12 FA Cup games in the capital (D4, L8), with their last London win in the competition coming way back in 1995 against Manchester United when they last lifted the trophy at Wembley.
Key battle: Palace winger Michael Olise – in red-hot form with four goals across his last four appearances – set up the first in the aforementioned 4-0 FA Cup thumping of Everton. Trying to keep him quiet will be left-back Vitalii Mykolenko, who has won more league tackles than any other Everton player this season (30). He also opened the scoring when these two sides met in November.
Hot stat: Everton have lost seven of their last nine FA Cup games against fellow PL sides (W2), losing all four away from home in this run.